“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try (test) the spirits whether they are of God” 1 John 4:1

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark (#G4648consider) them which cause divisions and offenses (#G4625stumbling block) contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Rom. 16:17-18

This Bible verse of Romans has unfortunately been misused by some Christian congregations to mark & shun people for various reason, but in reality this was written to protect the body of Christ from contamination of false doctrines, or false teachers. (1), (2), etc.

Notice they make speeches (have the authority to do so) & serve their own bellies, meaning they have some type of material gain. The division is caused by the teacher who brings the false doctrine, not by the discerning person that is trying to defend the faith or by the churchgoers that are there to learn & that won’t affect the entire congregation or the body of Christ if they have wrong doctrines. We are suppose to love one another even when found someone in fault & as possible look to restore them, Gal.6:1-2. But teachers are going to be judged more severely (James 3:1) because they can influence thousands of Christians, or millions of them, like this Truth Project teachers do.

So we do good by considering them which are teaching things contrary to the Word of God & avoid them. This is what I have decided to do regarding The Truth Project & their teachers. I’ll try to explain why in the following posts.

James Dobson is the founder of ‘Focus on The Family‘ he signed the ecumenical document The Manhattan Declaration, He and his staff at the time, embarked in their most ambitious project ever. He spent over 2 million dollars producing ‘The Truth Project’ DVD series, & spent some more promoting it in churches not only in America but also around the world. They claim the series will help you to have an encounter ‘face to face with God’, that it opens and explains the Scriptures, and they even claim that ‘God’s ordination’ appears to be on this production. These are very serious claims!

They charged about $900 for the DVD series when it was released in September 2006. The presenter & maker of ‘TheTrue Project‘, was at the time the president of Focus on the Family, Calvinist teacher Del Tackett, an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church. (Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, now named “Truth in Action” after the death of pastor James Kennedy). Their current pastor is Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of evangelist Billy Graham. (See latest update: June 22, 2015).

The Truth Project is described as a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ. But why should we spend our time and money studying any of these “world” views, shouldn’t we simply study the Bible? How did millions of Christians managed from the beginning of the church, when this project & its world-view was not available? – By the way Worldview has been a fundamental concept in Philosophy.

What could be the reason for spending so much money and effort in this Truth Project? The reason according to their page, seams to be because they think a cultural change (transformation) is needed in the body of Christ, since today’s believers live very similarly to non-believers. They say: “We invite you to be a part of this cultural change by participating in or leading a small group of your own. Contact us to learn how you can get involved in Focus on the Family’s The Truth Project!” They also stated there that millions have been transformed by this curriculum. But being realistic, on the past 9 years or more that millions of Christians around the world have been taught this curriculum, have we noticed any changes for better in the Church? or are we noticing a deeper apostasy?

The problem I see with this approach, when leaders look to do a ‘Cultural Change’, they look for changes in the outside, when what we really need is a change in our hearts, in the inside, that inevitably will be reflected in the outside, but only the pure & undefiled Word of God & the Holy Spirit have the power to accomplish this, not men or their social works. Interestingly enough, some may recognize that also the goal of the Emergent Church is precisely this same cultural change in the Christian churches.

The story, Tackett taught on the program, is an example of God’s plan for real social reform – Christians reaching out to those in need rather than leaving the work to secular government programs. Commentary on Christianpost.com about Tacket’s new TV program “Cross Examine”.

More than a year ago we were presented with this ‘bible study’ & we were excited to learn, not knowing about the teacher or the people behind it, but unfortunately as soon as we started the first lesson, some red flags were raised. A lot of things seemed good, like for example the bible verses being quoted, the prayers at the end, & many other things, but still something was not quite right. . . . The gospel is simple & this was too sophisticated, like for a college presentation, how could the poor be reached with this? Is this study elitist? In general the teachings sounded to me, like a lot of unnecessary philosophical statements.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col. 2:8)

Philosophy -Strong’s # G5385 = Love of wisdom. We find that word only once in the entire Bible, in Col.2:8 (above) and is referring to false teachings, about the theology of some Jewish Christian ascetics (that exercised self-denial). Philosophy was created byPythagorasa mystic and a sun worshipper. There is no biblical philosophy (like Mr. Tackett claims), the Bible doesn’t teach it, there is only secular philosophy. We ought to love God, and He is the source of true wisdom. Loving wisdom apart from God is idolatry. In Proverbs we read: “The fear of the Lordis the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Prov.9:10. It is the fear of the Lord (reverence, respect to Him) that leads us to wisdom.

Truth is one of the central subjects ofphilosophy . Some philosophers in the past in their search for truth got saved, but when they found Jesus Christ the search was over. Christians already found Truth in Jesus Christ our Lord. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” John 14:6

Apostle Paul said: “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2 :4-5

An initial red flag with the Truth Project was to find and obelisk in the class, in middle of the table. TheObelisk: Symbolizes the sun god Ra, an IDOL, and it’s said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure. So it should raise a red flag when you see a Christian using an obelisk, symbolic of a false god. It was never explained or mentioned by Tackett, so why was on the table in every lessons? Both obelisk and sun-disk are symbols used today in Freemasonry.

Del Tackett’s page says:

“Dr. Del Tackett is the architect and teacher of The Truth Project … Dr. Tackett completed more than 20 years of service in the United States Air Force. During the George H. W. Bush administration, he served at the White House, where he was appointed by President Bush(Sr.) as the director of technical planning for the National Security Council.” Bush Sr & Bush Jr are both members of the Order of Skull & Bones an occult brotherhood. It’s well known that many presidents & many politicians are masons. Often they hire from their own & not outsiders, to keep their actions or business concealed. So, more red flags.

“To understand why the obelisk is so important to masons one has to understand the Masonic version of Egyptian mythology behind their rituals. … To Freemasons groping for mystic enlightenment in the 1800’s the obelisk was the only architectural symbol of Osiris still in existence. And if, as some Masonic historians claim, Hiram Abiff is really Osiris reborn there could be no greater proof of Masonic ascendancy in the modern world than Egyptian Obelisks thrust by masons into the heart of the West’s great cities.” More here

I started to look for more information and found Del Tackett in a video presentation, mentioning that ‘we should trust that God gave us a framework of truth from which we can stand upon & live. ??’ But, we only need Jesus, His Word & His Holy Spirit to live! We live because the sacrifice & blood of Jesus, not because of a framework. If that was true, then it wasn’t necessary for Jesus to come, suffer death in a cross and shed His blood for humanity. The Holy Spirit is our teacher, He guides us unto all truth, we can stand upon & live by the blood of Jesus, the Word of God & by learning to be led by the Holy Spirit of God, not a framework. We don’t need new revelations, everything we need was already given.

Also the title of the lesson 1: ‘Veritology– what is truth?’ – Tackett recognizes the term doesn’t exist in dictionaries and that he made it up from the words Veritas & logos. But in Roman mythology, Veritas (meaning truth) is the goddess of truth, an IDOL … again!. Why are idols and a pagan temple presented in the series as symbols of God’s truth?

“and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them,and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” 2 Cor.6:16-17

According to “Freemasonry and Religion” by Freemason David Brownback,: “One of the first things that a newly initiated brother learns is that ‘Freemasonry is a system of moralityveiled in allegory and illustrated with symbols. He also learns that Truth(Veritas) is at its center.” They also say that the real object of Freemasonry, in a philosophical and religious sense, is the search for truth. Isn’t that what the Truth Project is all about: Truth search in a philosophical & religious sense?

Masons are Gnostics, and Nuda Veritas meaning the ‘Naked Truth’, is literally the revelation ofgnosis in the form of a woman. This teaching is an old heresy that found its way into the early church and was refuted by Irenaeus in his treatise, ‘ Against Heresies’ book 1 Chap.14.

Elaine Pagels, professor of Religion at Princeton University, wrote about it in ‘The Gnostic Gospels’: “And that, Marcus adds, is how ‘the naked Truth’ came to him in a woman’s form, disclosing her secrets to him. Marcus expects, in turn, that everyone whom he initiates into gnosis will also receive such experiences.”